Bacteria are everywhere. There are bugs up your nose, in your mouth, and all over your skin. There are more bacteria in you and on you than there are human cells and many have beneficial effects. Bacteria on the skin can reduce inflammation in wounds. Gut bacteria almost act like another organ with their role in digestion. Immune systems can't develop properly without a good exposure to grime.

The world is a pulsating mass of micro-organisms which mostly are not trying to kill you. The idea that we should aspire to a state of bug-free cleanliness is just marketing bullshit from people selling soap, disinfectant etc who are trying to scare you into buying their products. It doesn't exist in the real world and, if it could, it would be positively harmful.

Bacteria are everywhere. There are bugs up your nose, in your mouth, and all over your skin. There are more bacteria in you and on you than there are human cells and many have beneficial effects. Bacteria on the skin can reduce inflammation in wounds. Gut bacteria almost act like another organ with their role in digestion. Immune systems can't develop properly without a good exposure to grime.

The world is a pulsating mass of micro-organisms which mostly are not trying to kill you. The idea that we should aspire to a state of bug-free cleanliness is just marketing bullshit from people selling soap, disinfectant etc who are trying to scare you into buying their products. It doesn't exist in the real world and, if it could, it would be positively harmful.

Washing your face and body with soap and hot water actually causes acne and other problems, by removing the protective secretions coating the skin and naturally working their way out through the pores, removing a protective layer of dead skin cells, decimating the normal flora of exposed tissues (which actually kill off most interlopers), and allowing free access to cleaned-out pores and exposed, living skin. The nasty, malodorous Chinese and Germans (who actually have [url=Loading: http://sanitationupdates.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/international-hygiene-study-scores-for-personal-and-household-hygiene-in-12-countries-presented/]the worst personal hygiene in the world[/url], contrary to the popular myth that it's the French and Arabs) are doing it right, and the obsessively clean South Africans, Brazilians, and Indians (who are purportedly the cleanest) are doing it wrong.

It's hard to change such norms, though. Most of us have been raised to avoid exuding bodily odors at all costs, to scrub ourselves clean daily, and to wash our hands frequently.

Washing our own asses after defecating (like the supposedly disgusting and smelly French) would probably be a good idea, however. The problem isn't so much that one is spreading E. coli but that one is spreading much of whatever else one might be infected with._________________Deja Moo: the feeling that you've heard this bull before

Bacteria are everywhere. There are bugs up your nose, in your mouth, and all over your skin. There are more bacteria in you and on you than there are human cells and many have beneficial effects. Bacteria on the skin can reduce inflammation in wounds. Gut bacteria almost act like another organ with their role in digestion. Immune systems can't develop properly without a good exposure to grime.

The world is a pulsating mass of micro-organisms which mostly are not trying to kill you. The idea that we should aspire to a state of bug-free cleanliness is just marketing bullshit from people selling soap, disinfectant etc who are trying to scare you into buying their products. It doesn't exist in the real world and, if it could, it would be positively harmful.

Washing your face and body with soap and hot water actually causes acne and other problems, by removing the protective secretions coating the skin and naturally working their way out through the pores, removing a protective layer of dead skin cells, decimating the normal flora of exposed tissues (which actually kill off most interlopers), and allowing free access to cleaned-out pores and exposed, living skin. The nasty, malodorous Chinese and Germans (who actually have [url=Loading: http://sanitationupdates.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/international-hygiene-study-scores-for-personal-and-household-hygiene-in-12-countries-presented/]the worst personal hygiene in the world[/url], contrary to the popular myth that it's the French and Arabs) are doing it right, and the obsessively clean South Africans, Brazilians, and Indians (who are purportedly the cleanest) are doing it wrong.

It's hard to change such norms, though. Most of us have been raised to avoid exuding bodily odors at all costs, to scrub ourselves clean daily, and to wash our hands frequently.

Washing our own asses after defecating (like the supposedly disgusting and smelly French) would probably be a good idea, however. The problem isn't so much that one is spreading E. coli but that one is spreading much of whatever else one might be infected with.

ok. the poo particles are a bit gross (wow, going to think twice before I shake someone's hand here!), but it seems to me other than that, cold and flu viruses are the problem. I mean "germs" aren't a big problem (we are covered in them) unless you are performing surgery (by all means, be anal then).

I imagine part of the problem is that some washrooms look so dirty (and god dammit the fucking non-mixer taps here are annoying), that you feel like washing your hands is going to make a dirtier. Unlikely if you have a clump of shit on your hands.